Not a single woman made Forbes’ 100 highest-paid athletes list

Serena Williams missed the cut of the 100 highest-paid athletes this year, according to Forbes. (Clive Brunskill / Getty Images)

One year removed from Serena Williams being the only woman to grace the top 100, there are currently no women featured on Forbes’ breakdown of the highest-paid athletes of the past year.

Williams didn’t make the cut in the latest edition of the magazine’s yearly roundup because of the time she spent away from her sport to have her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr. She earned $18 million in sponsorship deals, but that hefty payday wasn’t enough to push her into the top 100. Nicolas Batum, a guard for the Charlotte Hornets, was 100th on the list with a $22.9 million salary.

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Forbes confirmed to the Daily News that Williams would be the first woman to appear on a list expanded past 100, but could not pinpoint her exact rank.

The magazine determines athletes’ earnings by adding salaries, all prize money from tournaments, bonuses and endorsements. Forbes acknowledged the list had “long been testosterone-heavy,” but said there had been at least one to three women featured since 2010. Maria Sharapova’s drug suspension last year excluded her from consideration, Forbes said.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. was the highest earner for 2018. The retired boxer pulled in an estimated $285 million, according to Forbes. Only $10 million of that total came from sources outside of his blockbuster August 2017 match against UFC fighter Conor McGregor. The fight lasted 36 minutes.

It was the fourth time in seven years that “Money” Mayweather topped the list.

Argentinian soccer player Lionel Messi ranked second with $111 million earned since last June, Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo was third with $108 million and McGregor landed fourth with $99 million.

In comparison, a Daily News analysis of athlete earnings found the highest-paid woman in New York City professional team sports is paid as much as the 298th highest-paid man in the Big Apple. Tina Charles, a center for the New York Liberty, made $115,500 this season.

Mayweather, 41, was also a standout in age. Forbes said the average age among the top 100 was 31 years old. He’s joined in age by the oldest members of the list — golfers Phil Mickelson, 47, and Tiger Woods, 42.